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A state district judge sentenced a Grand Forks mother to 2½ years in prison on felony charges stemming from a fire that destroyed the duplex where she lived with her children.
"I just want to say I'm sorry for what happened, and I just want to make it right," Roxanne Halvorson told Judge Sonja Clapp on Tuesday. "I just want to get my kids back."
Authorities said Halvorson let her nephew, Derik Ostlund, and his girlfriend, Candy Reed, into her apartment to cook and smoke meth when three of her children were there.
A cigarette apparently ignited chemicals involved in making the meth, starting a blaze that gutted the building at 909 N. Third St. on Nov. 15, authorities said. No one was seriously injured, but nine people were left without homes, including four adults who lived upstairs.
In connection with the incident, Reed was sentenced to four years in prison and Ostlund was ordered to serve three years.
Halvorson, 38, pleaded guilty to being an accomplice to making methamphetamine, possessing drug paraphernalia and endangering her children.
Halvorson's attorney, Jay Knudson, argued that his client should receive only two years, saying she is the least culpable of the three.
"The reason for that is the two other co-defendants ... had prepared the materials," he said, referring to the meth. "They were out in the country, and they started the process, and they came to Ms. Halvorson's house."
The sentence Clapp handed down was the same as what Halvorson and the prosecution had agreed upon in a plea deal.
"In thinking about the sentences, they were very fair," prosecutor Thomas Falck said. "They could have been 10 to 20 years if we considered what could have happened."
Knudson said Halvorson has five children between the ages of 4 and 16, as well as a 21-year-old who no longer lives with her. Halvorson has been allowed supervised visits with her kids since the incident, he said.
Despite Halvorson's wish to be back with her children, Clapp expressed skepticism.
"You're really not cooperating with social services. They're having to push you to do things," the judge said. "It doesn't appear that you're really trying very hard to get reunited with your children."
Clapp ordered Halvorson, who has a history of substance abuse, to undergo a chemical dependency evaluation while in prison. Halvorson must also serve 2½ years of supervised probation when she is released.
A restitution hearing has been scheduled for July 20 to sort out how much Halvorson, Reed and Ostlund owe the victims in the case, including the residents of the upstairs unit and the duplex owner.
